Living in NJ I tend to have a lot of problems with scale and have had to send my steam unit in for repair more than once. My contractor suggested not using the preheat feature so that the water temperature in my steam generator between uses is cold. He said this may help reduce the scale in my tank. Can anyone shed any light on this?

A steam generator pre-heat feature maintains hot water withing the steam bath generator vessel (120-160 degrees Fahrenheit depending on the steam shower unit). Warm water does evaporate more readily than cool water and as the steam generator vessel is open to the atmosphere, water does consistently escape the vessel. It is also true that the more water a steam generator converts to vapor, the more solids it creates inside the vessel, hence, the potential for enhanced scale build-up.

It is a correct statement that turning off a pre-heat feature may help reduce the scale in a steam shower generator tank, however, how much is uncertain.

Rather than eliminate a steam generator's performance feature, if scale is a concern, consider treating the steam generator's water with a water conditioning system. Bathology has a full line of steam shower generator water filters and conditions that will not only remove water solids, they aim to reduce lime or scale deposits and even water chlorine content.